I’ve thought about writing this blog post but I’ve dodged it for quite some time now. To recommend surfboards to people is not that easy and I’m certainly no expert in the field and only have my own experience to go by. There are a plethora of surfboards out there and every surfer seems to have different opinions ranging from; “start with the biggest board you can find” to “buy a shortboard right away and learn to surf the hard way”. But then I got an email from a blog reader who wondered if I had some tips on what to consider when you by your first surfboard, and that settled it. So here’s how I think when it comes to appropriate beginner boards;

The bigger; thus longer, thicker and wider your surfboard is the better it will float and the more stable it will be. This will make it easier for you to pop-up and also the waves will catch you easier and you won’t have to paddle quite as much. Exactly how big the board should be depends a bit on how much buoyancy you want. How tall you are, how much you weigh and what type of waves you surf. If the waves aren’t that powerful where you plan to surf, the waves tend for example to be pretty weak here in Sweden compared to eg the waves in Indonesia, the more flotation and extra help you want from your surfboard. Many start with a mini-malibu and anything from 7’2 and up I think is right. The larger boards is clearly a bit more difficult to carry around and if you want to go straight for a shorter board right away then do that I say. As long as one is aware of what it means to go down in size. Luke Hart who shaped boards for Quiversurfboards helped me to choose one of my first boards, and I think he sums it up very well regarding what can happen if you go too short too fast; “ordering a board too small for you never helps you progress as a surfer, it just invites bad habits and style and can often take the fun out of a surf especially when the waves arent great. And fun is what its all about!!“

The material of the surfboard is also something to consider. If you plan to start surfing in Sweden, where there’s quite a lot of stones I would probably recommend going for a board made of epoxy, which is a little more durable than polyurethane.

If you plan to buy a secondhand surfboard and you don’t feel that you really know what too look for, my advice is to bring someone who’s a bit more experienced when it comes to surfboards. It can be difficult to see if the board you’re interested in has been damaged and then been repaired by someone who didn’t had the foggiest about how to fix surfboards. Been there done that, it resulted in that I bought a surfboard that weighed tons and leaked water from some poorly fixed dings after a few months. Not that fun. A warning sign may also be if the entire surfboard is repainted which may be a fairly common way to hide that the surfboard has become cracked in half.

To summarize this, I think it can be a good idea to get help from someone you trust when it comes to buying your first surfboard. Maybe you can try one of your friends boards or rent one the first couple of times just to try some different models and sizes. And since I live by the devise that nothing is impossible I think that if you really want to start of with a shortboard then do that! My first surfboard was a 6’6 funboard which everyone I met thought was way too small for me as a beginner. In retrospect, I would probably have been developing my surfing faster on a bigger board but that’s not always the most important thing either.

Last but not least I would like to send a big thanks to Susanna (please check out her awesome illustrations here) for your lovely email and the wonderfully stylish image you’ve done! It really made my day and gave me the energy to skip my studies for a moment and put together this little post!